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Standing alongside the second carriage, the set of double doors closest
to the seat of the explosion has been completely ripped off and the
floor is strewn with debris.

The ceiling is charred and partially collapsed, handrails lie on the
floor amid personal possessions including bags, drinks bottles and a
newspaper.

Large pools of blood can be seen on several seat cushions and on the
floor, mingled with ash and other material.

One piece of paper can be seen with a headline referring to Lord Coe,
the architect of the successful bid for the 2012 London Olympics,
awarded the previous day.

Almost every window on the second carriage was smashed, many by
passengers as they tried to escape. Two other sets of double doors were
also partly damaged.

A view from outside the carriage showed the end, where the second
carriage joined the first, had almost collapsed.

Ladders used by emergency services remained in place between the open
doors and the tracks.

A diagram showed where Tanweer was standing when he detonated his
rucksack bomb and the positions of those who died, including one man who
was blown clear of the train.

Aftermath: Ambulance crews and other rescue workers arrive at the Edgware Road Station, scene of one of the suicide bombings

Mr Keith said the first others knew of the blast
at about 8.50am was a 'muffled thud'.

'It is distressing in that this video shows the place where so
many people tragically died. Great care has been taken and the material has been edited and
re-edited to make sure you do not see any of the deceased.'

He explained how the driver, Mr Batkin, used his
mobile phone to alert his line controller 'within minutes' when his
radio failed.

He then evacuated his passengers, enlisting
the help of four London Underground employees to form a 'human chain'
back to the platform.

One police officer who ran to help described the walking wounded as
'like zombies' as they returned to platforms three and four covered in
soot and dirt.

Mr Keith said: 'Despite the confusion elsewhere, those on the scene
acted promptly to respond and to notify the emergency services of the
horror that had occurred.'

The bombers killed 25 and injured
more
than 700
on board three London Underground trains at Aldgate, Edgware Road and
Russell Square, and on a bus at Tavistock Square.

Relatives of the dead have led a five-year campaign for an independent
inquiry to examine whether the 2005 bombings could have been prevented.

The inquest also heard today how communications problems meant medics had to use runners to get messages back to their control rooms.

Their radios did not work underground, meaning information and pleas for more help had to be relayed by runners. At Russell Square, the stairs meant this could take 15 minutes.

The inquest heard that emergency service control rooms were confused about what had happened and where to send help for some time after the initial blasts at 8.50am.

Emergency responders were sent to the wrong places, with the first ambulance not arriving at Aldgate until 9.14am because it was initially dispatched to Liverpool Street.

The first fire engine only reached the Edgware Road bombing at 9.18am and the control rooms were not told that Russell Square Tube station had been targeted until 9.13am.

Mr Keith said: 'The evidence tends to
suggest that the emergency services encountered considerable
difficulties in communicating with each other.'

He added: 'The evidence seems to
suggest that all the emergency services, other than the British
Transport Police and the City of London Police, had to rely upon
individuals running back and forth from the trains to the platforms and
from the platforms to the ground level ...

'In relation to Russell Square, which
is characterised by a very long spiral staircase, it could take as long
as 15 minutes to walk from the tunnel to ground level.'

Mr Keith went on: 'The central issue,
of course, is not whether there were delays in the attendance by the
emergency services, but whether it would have made a difference if those
few minutes that I have identified had not been lost.'

Fresh details about the confused response came after yesterday's first day of the inquests heard the terrorists had planned to unleash carnage 24 hours earlier.

The deadly attacks were delayed a day because the plot’s ringleader Mohammed Sidique Khan was forced to take his pregnant wife Hasina to hospital on July 5 where she later suffered a miscarriage.

At 4.35am on July 6, he sent a hurried text message to fellow conspirator Shehzad Tanweer, 22.

The text, which strongly suggests July 6 was the day for the outrage, said: ‘Having major problem. Cannot make time. Will ring you when I get it sorted. Wait at home.’

Opening the inquest, lawyer Hugo Keith, QC, described the killings - the worst terror atrocity committed on British soil - as 'merciless savagery' and an 'unimaginable tidal wave of shock, misery and horror'.

The hearing was told the group had planned to kill police using nail bombs if they were intercepted and had been intending to target other Underground stations.

A catalogue of missed opportunities to halt the bombers during anti-terror surveillance operations meant they were able to unleash their spree.

Mr Keith told the inquest there was evidence that the gang could have been planning to act 24 hours earlier.

Had the bombs been detonated on July 6, the explosions would have come just hours before the announcement that London had been awarded the 2012 Olympic Games.

Khan’s text message was found on a mobile phone recovered from one of the bomb sites. His wife suffered a miscarriage later on July 7.

Mr Keith said: ‘It may have been that the attack was originally planned for a different day.’ He said three of the bombers - Khan, Tanweer and 18-year-old Hasib Hussain - travelled from Leeds to Luton in a rented Nissan Micra.

The fourth, Jermaine Lindsay, 19, was waiting for them at a car park at Luton Parkway railway station, where a parking attendant gave him a ticket after spotting him asleep in his Fiat Brava.

All four then caught the 07.25 Thameslink train to King’s Cross, where they entered the Tube network, each carrying a home-made bomb concealed in a rucksack.

Mr Keith said their behaviour had aroused suspicions among other passengers, who described them as avoiding eye contact and seeming ‘happy, even euphoric’.

At 08.49 Khan, Tanweer and Lindsay detonated their bombs, in tunnels near Tube stations at Edgware Road, Aldgate and Russell Square respectively.

Hussain detonated his bomb almost an hour after the other three, on board the number 30 bus at Tavistock Square.

Lindsay’s passport was later found, containing scribbled notes referring to Tube stations at Paddington, Bond Street, South Kensington and Westminster.

Mr Keith suggested those stations could have been their targets, but said their train had been delayed by 24 minutes, forcing them to change their plans.

Court officials have arranged a video-link for relatives to watch the proceedings in private. The inquest is expected to run until spring next year.